Syphilis widespread in Central Europe even before Columbus voyage to America

In 1495, a new disease spread throughout Europe: syphilis. Christopher Columbus was said to have brought this sexually transmitted disease back from his voyage to America. At least, that has been the accepted theory up until now. Using morphological and structural evidence, researchers from the Department of Forensic Medicine and the Center for Anatomy and Cell Biology (bone laboratory) at MedUni Vienna have now identified several cases of congenital syphilis dating back to as early as 1320 AD in skeletons from excavations at the cathedral square of St. Pölten, Austria “The discovery clearly refutes the previous theory,” say study leaders Karl Großschmidt and Fabian Kanz of MedUni Vienna.